Michael Antony Aston

“<p>"He railed against right wing politics, reserving special venom for Margaret Thatcher, and fought against all manner of authority, including university paperwork, and most especially if it came in a uniform. He never possessed a suit himself and he was the only person I ever knew to be forcibly ejected from a public car park for arguing with a traffic warden. Mick could be unrepentantly cheeky. Once when stopped for speeding at 54mph in a 50mph zone in Bristol he asked if he could have a copy of the ticket from the speed gun because, as he explained to the bewildered policeman, he was selling the 2CV and no potential purchaser would believe the death-defying speeds he claimed for it. There was always more than a little of the rebel in him; he would challenge almost anyone or anything that told him he couldn't do something, with a special disregard for prohibitions on overnight parking issued by National Parks. He was also a vegetarian, a naturist, a potter, a lover of classical music and astronomy, and a gardener: a combination of hobbies that could cause confusion if you turned up at his house unannounced looking for wise council. Like so many others, I never left without a sheaf of notes, a bag of books to consult from his impressive library, a bottle of wine and a renewed enthusiasm for the Middle Ages, and it was this same sharp-minded infectiousness that he carried into village halls, day schools and conferences and which had such an impact on all who met him through the years."</p>